Household food security and environmental sustainability in upland rice production systems in Mai Son district, Northern uplands of Vietnam

Results of the study showed that farm households in Mai Son could be self-reliant in food security. Under poor market access conditions, as found in the Ot commune, upland rice was a major source of staple food, satisfying as much as 71 percent of the requirement. Lowland rice and cassava substitution almost equally shared the remaining amount. Conversely, under good market access conditions, as seen in Chieng Mung Commune, lowland rice brought about nearly a half, while rice purchase provided a third of staple food consumption. Cassava and upland rice almost equally contributed to the remaining amount of the staple food requirement. Farmers with greater land endowment grew less upland rice, and practiced less intensified land use resulting in less soil loss per hectare. In poor market access regions, such as Na Ot Commune, lowland endowment needed to expand by as much as 6.5 times of the current area, Ceteris paribus, for upland rice to no longer be produced. In reality, lowland endowment of households could hardly be changed by such magnitude, indicating the continued importance of upland rice production. It was found that increase in lowland and upland rice yields could relax the intensification pressure in upland farming and reduce the amount of soil loss at the farm, making upland farming sustainable. In terms of magnitudes, enhancement of upland rice yield had larger impact than a similar lowland rice increment in the poor market access region, while yield improvement in lowland rice proved more effective than a similar action on upland rice in the good market access region. Market development impacts on land use practices, on the role of upland rice in household food security, income levels and on the soil losses were examined. They included marketability of farm products that were previously not marketable, and expansion in absorption capacity of the market to farm products that have been saleable, as well as the reasonability of the selling prices. The study results showed that market development was the most effective factor affecting household food security, income generation and environmental sustainability in upland farming, as well as the role of upland rice. It was shown that without perennial crop appearance, AP [Annuity Linear Programming] and MP [Multiple Period Linear Programming] models provided exactly the same optional solutions. Besides, with small areas of perennial crops, they could generate similar results. However, with large areas of the perennial crops, the optimal solutions were different. Also, with no area restriction at all for perennial crops, the results of AP and MP were different. Since Mai Son district is a good representative of the Northern uplands of Vietnam, the results studied from Na Ot and Cheing Mung Communes can appropriately be used for other poor market access and good market areas, respectively, in the Northern Uplands of Vietnam. Based on the results of the study, respective policy and method recommendations were made